Japanese GP: Team-by-Team

 Another win for Rosberg gives him a 33 point lead in the championship fight, another strong race for Verstappen saw him come home in second. McLaren struggled, whilst Force India excelled. Catch up on all the action from every team and every driver here.

Mercedes

A good start allowed Rosberg to get ahead from the beginning and he led a controlled race to take his 9th victory of the year. Hamilton had another poor start, dropping to 8th by the first corner. Fighting through the pack, he eventually recovered to finish 3rd. But he now has a 33 point deficit in the championship.

Nico Rosberg P1

Top of every session throughout the weekend, Rosberg dominated during the race. With Hamilton dropping back, he was unchallenged for the win. He finished the race 5 seconds ahead of second-placed Verstappen. This victory is his first in Japan and allows him to further extend his championship lead to 33 points.

Lewis Hamilton P3

Too much wheelspin off the line meant that Hamilton dropped to eighth. After an aggressive drive, fighting through the order, he eventually came home in 3rd position – just missing out on second. On the penultimate lap, having caught Verstappen, Hamilton attempted to make a pass. However, this didn’t pay off and Verstappen forced him wide. Dropping to far back to mount a challenge on the final lap, Hamilton settled for third.

Ferrari

With both drivers serving gird penalties, they started further back than they qualified. Vettel had a strong start, jumping to fourth by the first corner, but was unable to challenge for a podium spot. Raikkonen spent much of the race fighting Ricciardo, but eventually finished ahead in 5th.

Sebastian Vettel P4

A good start for Vettel put him within reach of a podium finish. Chasing Verstappen, he could have made it onto the podium. However, Ferrari opted not to pit him when Verstappen came in, instead keeping him out longer then putting him onto softs for the final stint. This dropped him to fourth, behind Hamilton and leaving him to gain the position on the track. But, although he was strong for 5 or 6 laps, the performance soon dropped off and he found himself out of contention for the podium.

Kimi Raikkonen P5

After a strong qualifying on Saturday it looked as if Raikkonen would be starting 3rd for the race. However, gearbox issues meant that he had to drop 5 places, so started down in 8th. Stuck behind other cars, he struggled to make significant progress. He spent much of his race in a fight with Ricciardo, eventually finishing ahead of the Red Bull driver.

Red Bull

Benefiting from Hamilton’s poor start, Verstappen was up to second on the first lap, a position which he retained until the end as he held off the Mercedes driver until the end. Ricciardo has a more difficult day, delayed at the start due to Hamilton starting slowly in front. He spent much of his race fighting the Force Indias, finishing a disappointing 6th position in the end.

Max Verstappen P2

Another strong start for Verstappen elevated him to second by the first corner. Allowing Rosberg to pull out a small lead, he was able to control tyre wear and brake temperatures. A good strategy from the team helped him to keep ahead of Hamilton, despite being caught near the end. As usual, Verstappen opted for an aggressive defensive strategy which was enough to keep the Mercedes behind.

Daniel Ricciardo P6

On the wet side of the grid, Ricciardo had a compromised start. Losing further time due to the slow starting Hamilton ahead, Ricciardo lost a few places before the first corner. Making slow progress through the pack, he found himself in a battle for fifth with Raikkonen. Despite strong laps in the closing stages of the race, Ricciardo didn’t manage to do enough to take the position so had to settle for sixth.

Force India

Sergio Perez P7, Nico Hulkenberg P8

Helped by the grid penalties of the Ferraris, Perez started the race fifth and was running as high as third in the opening laps. Unfortunately, he eventually dropped to 7th but still a strong result – finishing ahead of both Williams drivers. Despite some great overtaking manouvers, his teammate Hulkenberg slipped back in the order and finished behind his teammate.

Williams

Felipe Massa P9, Valtteri Bottas P10

Qualifying way down in 12th, Massa wasn’t optimistic of his hopes in the race. Opting for a one-stop race, he became an easy target for the Force Indias on much fresher tyres, eventually dropping behind the pair. Picking up just 2 points, it was another disappointing race for the Brazilian.

Also struggling in qualifying, Bottas started just ahead of his teammate in 11th. Also choosing to go onto the one-stop strategy, he was ahead of his teammate up until the stop. A rare mistake for the usually faultless Williams mechanics dropped Bottas just behind his teammate.

Overall, it was a fairly disappointing weekend for the team, again struggling for overall pace and performance from the car. They now slip further behind the Force India team in the constructors’ and it looks as if they will struggle to retake fourth.

McLaren

Fernando Alonso P16, Jenson Button P18

At Honda’s home grand prix, McLaren had been hoping for a strong race. However, it was far from it. Button failed to get out of Q1 on Saturday, with Alonso only just scraping through. The situation was no better on the Sunday, with neither driver close to the points.

For the team who have showed significant progress across the season, scoring much more consistently, this was certainly a weekend to forget.

Toro Rosso

Daniil Kvyat P13, Carlos Sainz P17

A spin in qualifying meant Sainz was outqualified by Kvyat on Saturday. Lining up 13th and 14th, it looked as if it would be a tough race for the team, with incidents or rain the only chance of them scoring points. However, all drivers made it to the finish, making their task much harder.

Both drivers showed frustration in the race, struggling for pace against their rivals. Kvyat complained that the “straight-line speed is just nowhere…we are just too slow.”, whilst Sainz had a messy race fighting hard for positions, eventually slipping to 17th.

Haas

Romain Grosjean P11, Esteban Gutierrez P20

An impressive qualifying performance for both drivers gave the team high hopes for the race, with both drivers reaching Q3. But they left Suzuka disappointed.

Gutierrez made an early stop, which dropped him to twentieth. Then he spun on lap 20, whilst attempting a pass on Sainz, undoing all his hard work. Unable to make up for the lost ground, he finished a distant 20th – behind both Saubers.

Starting 7th, Grosjean looked sure to claim points in the race, but it wasn’t to be. Losing four places across the duration of the grand prix, he finished an agonising 11th place – just one position away from the points-scoring positions. However, one positive is the improved performance levels from the new front wing, which proved to be a beneficial upgrade.

Renault

Jolyon Palmer P12, Kevin Magnussen P14

Having scored points in Malaysia, Palmer was slightly disappointed to finish 12th this weekend. However, he out performed his teammate Magnussen in qualifying as well as the race, which is crucial for him as his future in F1 is in doubt. Neither driver has yet been confirmed for 2017 so the final four races will be crucial for both of them.

Manor

Esteban Ocon P21, Pascal Wehrlein P22

A long way off the pace of the rest, Ocon and Wehrlein found themselves in their own battle for the majority of the grand prix. With a grid penalty, Wehrlein started the race just behind his teammate and, despite a close fight between the pair, he was beaten by Ocon during the race. With neither driver confirmed for 2017, these performances in the closing stages of the season are going to be important.

Sauber

Marcus Ericsson P15, Felipe Nasr P19

Both drivers opted for the one stop strategy, but Ericsson managed to make the tyres last longer so had a more successful race. Nasr flat spotted one of his hard tyres under braking, compromising his long stint and forcing him to manage tyre wear. This ultimately lost him positions relative to his teammate, who had a strong race to finish 15th.